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Stoning Touch
Stoning Touch is one of the many Unit Abilities available in Master of Magic. With this ability, each in a unit possessing this ability makes a powerful Special Attack that forces the target unit to or suffer damage equivalent to the full health of one of its own — effectively thinning that unit's ranks with a petrifying venom. The strength of a Stoning Touch ability is noted after its name (e.g. "Stoning Touch -3"). The negative value indicates a temporary penalty applied to the target figure's score while the attack is taking place. The higher the penalty, the harder it is for the target to survive the attack. Only one creature in the game possesses Stoning Touch by default: Cockatrices. It is however possible to bestow a weakened version of this ability on Heroes, by equipping them with a Magical Item that has the "Stoning" bonus. Note that a similar ability exists, Stoning Gaze, which makes a single petrifying attack on each and every in the target unit, prior to melee action. This gaze attack is furthermore only fired once per instance of Melee combat, regardless of how many figures are present in the unit possessing the ability. Description Cockatrices may look like overgrown, mutated chickens - but they possess a rather dangerous weapon in the form of a Stoning Touch attack. The Cockatrices are essentially venomous, and their venom can instantly turn a living creature into stone. This transformation is absolutely deadly to the vast majority of enemies. Fortunately for these enemies, the venom only has a certain chance of working, and a particularly hardy creature may be able to survive it without harm. A attuned Wizard can imbue weapons with a dissolutus which presents the same basic type of threat. Effect Example :A unit of engages a unit of . The War Bears must make four resistance rolls, one for each Cockatrice. Each time a roll fails, the unit is struck for the full health of a single War Bear figure, or . :In point of contrast, when exposed to the Stoning Gaze of , the bears will only make two resistance rolls— one for each War Bear. Units with Default Stoning Touch There is only one unit that possesses Stoning Touch by default: Cockatrices The Cockatrices have Stoning Touch -3, which means that they inflict a penalty on the target when using this ability. This makes it very difficult for low-to-mid tier units to resist the effect. Stoning Touch -3 is the strongest known Stoning Touch in the game. Acquiring Stoning Touch It is possible to add Stoning Touch to pretty much any Hero unit, and furthermore, to add a Ranged dimension to the ability. This is accomplished by imbuing a Magical Item with an Item Power called "Stoning" (or "Petrifying" in the game manual), and equipping that item on a Hero. The "Stoning" bonus can only be added to Swords, Maces, Axes, Wands, Staves and Bows. During Item Crafting, the "Stoning" bonus is only available if you possess at least Spellbooks. Of course, it is always possible to find an item already imbued with this bonus as a reward for defeating an Encounter. The Stoning Touch given by a Magical Item has a strength of -1 (it gives a penalty to the target), making it significantly weaker than the Stoning Touch ability of Cockatrices, but still quite useful against low-Resistance enemies. The Stoning Touch icon does not appear in the Hero's details panel while holding such an item. The property is also transient: the hero only possesses this ability while holding the weapon, and will lose it immediately if the item is ever removed or lost. "Stoning" is a weapon-derived power. It may only appear on a magical weapon as mentioned above, and only triggers a Stoning Touch during the type of attack for which that weapon is designed. These are, respectively: * Bow: * Staff, Wand: * Mace, Sword: * Axe: and (if applicable) Category:Abilities